AfDB President, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, and Geregu Chairman, Femi Otedola
Eko Hot Blog reports that Geregu Power Plc’s Chairman, Mr. Femi Otedola, has unveiled an ambitious plan to collaborate with the Lagos state government in developing a pioneering power transmission project.
Otedola, a prominent billionaire investor with diverse business interests, announced the development following a meeting with Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the President of the African Development Bank Group, Dr. Akinwunmi Adesina, in Lagos.
If successfully implemented, this project will mark a significant milestone in Nigeria since private individuals were previously prohibited from engaging in power transmission activities within the country.
The development comes weeks after President Bola Tinubu signed the Nigeria Electricity Act 2023.
The law grants licences to both state governments and private individuals for transmitting electricity in areas covered by the national grid.
It also allows states, companies, and individuals to generate, transmit, and distribute electricity throughout the country.
Furthermore, the law effectively ends the monopoly on electricity regulation by empowering state governments to establish their regulatory agencies whenever they see fit.
The Lagos government is leveraging the new electricity act to establish a sustainable electricity market supported by a robust commercial framework.
Power transmission has long been a significant challenge in Nigeria, with persistent grid collapses.
In 2022 alone, the national grid experienced over 10 collapses, resulting in nationwide blackouts on each occasion.
Despite Nigeria’s generation capacity of 22,000 megawatts, the country can only transmit a fraction of that, ranging from 4,000 to 6,000 megawatts of electricity.
Lagos state, being Nigeria’s largest economy and one of the largest in Africa, is acutely aware of the urgent need to address these transmission issues.
With a GDP of $29 billion in 2022, the state’s electricity demand reached 10,000 megawatts while the power supply was a mere 1,900 megawatts.
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